Railroad-track-weeding machine



A. SCHEUCHZER RAILROAD TRACK WEEDING MACHINE Filed May 5 1924 CII Patented Nov. 4,1924.

firs!) STATES man gPATENT clerics.

AUGUsTE scHEUonznn, or nnnnns, nnnnrnusnnnn, SWITZERLAND; nssrcnon To nnnnonnsnnnnnusn scHnUcHznn socrnrn ANONYME, or amiens, swrrznn- LAND.

RAILROAD-TRACK-WEEDIN G- MACHINE.

Application filed May y5,

To all 'whom/25 may concern:

Be it known that I, AUGUSTE Sci-IEUCHZER, citizen of Switzerland, residing at Renens, near Lausanne, Switzerland, have `invented certain new and useful Improvements jin Railroad-Track-Vleeding Machines7 tot which the following isa speciiication.

The present invention relates rto improvements in railroad track lweeding-machi-nes and specially to improvements in the arrangement of the test roller which is dragged through the ballastnand is adapted to control the steam admission of a servo motor working the weeding knives.

There are already such machines where a servo motor is controlled by an arm carrying a test roller which when meeting with an obstacle in the ballast oscillates and acts thereby on the servo motor. But in order to render such oscillation possible it was necessary to maintain said arm resiliently within the ballast. As this ballast however is of a very varying resistance amounting sometimes to a considerable value very heavy springs and mountings of such springs had to be employed which springs and mountings were subjected to much breaking and deformation.

The object of this invention is to get rid of such springs. To this effect a compressed air cushion has been provided for Within an auxiliary pneumatic cylinder which cush ion acts on the piston which is in operative connection with the test roller. By means of a simple cock it is possible to vary the pressure within the pneumatic cylinder and to adapt according to circumstances the power which maintains the test roller within the ballast. The combination of this pneumatic cylinder with the test roller allows also the pneumatic withdrawal of the roller and of its supporting parts, in order to reestablish the position of rest of all parts.

The annexed drawing represents one working form of the object of the invention as an example.

Fig. l shows all tion;

Fig. 2 shows the parts in the position of rest and Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through the auxiliary pneumatic cylinder.

According to the drawing the test roller a is rotably mounted at the end of an arm Z),

parts in working posiktical swinging ydepends the Y.depth to which the c will .be sunk into the ballast.

yfor ya cam roller of the yarm b.

1924. Serial No. 711,300.

which is slidably ymounted within a guide c pivotally held at the end of a slide .d to which by means of a system of levers. a vermovement ymay be imparted through a hand wheel c which is in `operative connection with said levers. lt `is therefore the position of this hand wheel whereon test roller The slide (Z is `provided with a tread f mounted at the ,other end This end'ofvthe arm is also engaged in the slot of an arm g ixed on a trunnion 7L. Likewise keyed fast to this trunnion is a crank c', which is linked to a connecting rod/c of a piston moving in an auxiliary pneumatic cylinder Z pivotally mounted on a bracket of the frame. The two sides of this piston can be put into communication by a four-way cock Z1 with a compressed air reservoir provided on the machine.

lVhen a certain amout of air is admitted under the piston of the auxiliary cylinder, crank z' will turn contrarily to a clockwise movement on the geometrical axis of the trunnion 7L. Arm g follows this movement and presses the cam roller at the upper end of arm Z) against the tread f in the position of parts, as shown in Fig. l.

When ever roller a meets with a sleeper the members y, it, z', la will be operated in a clockwise sense and the air cushion under the piston will be compressed. The initial pressure of said cushion may be adapted according to circumstances, so as to keep the roller c rsunk within the ballast whatever may be the resistance presented by this ballast to the ktest rolle It the apparatus has to be brought at rest and if the roller a. must be withdrawn from the ballast an air pressure is created on the other side of the piston after having closed the exhaust of this side and opened the exhaust of the opposite side.

The members g, it, z', 7c will then move again yand swing arm o contrarily to a clockwise movement. The upper roller of this arm will follow the tread f and bring arm Z2 into a position which is about parallel with the rails which position isshown in Fig. 2.

The movement of this last roller controls likewise the admission device of the steam of the working cylinder and reverses this steam so as to cause the withdrawal of the knives from the ballast. Y

Having now fully described the nature of my invention and the manner in which the same is to be performed7 what I claim as new and want to secure by Tfetters Patent 1s: f

l. In a railroad track weeding machine having knives operated by a yservo motor which is controlled by a test roller dragged through the ballast and in combination, an auxiliary pneumatic cylinder, a compressed air cushion formed underneath the piston of said cylinder and mechanical means adapted to establish the working connection between the test roller and said piston so as to maintain said roller resiliently in the ballast.

2. In a railroad track 'weeding machine having knives operated by a servo motor controlled by a test roller which is dragged Athrough the ballast and in combination, an

auxiliary pneumatic cylinder; means for creating a compressed air cushion on the one side of said piston; means for establishing the working connection between said piston and said roller and means adapted to render either side of the cylinder suitable as exhaust or working side.

3. In a railroad track weeding machine having knives operated bya servo motor controlled by a test roll-er, in combination a compressed air reservoir; an auxiliary pneumatic cylinder set in communication with said reservoir` means for establishing,l the workingconnection between the piston of said cylinder and said roller and a foury Way cock adapted to control the communication between cylinder and reservoir so as to render either side of the cylinder suitable as working or as exhaust side.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

AUGUSTE SCHEUCHZER. i 

